


Kill Me So That I May Live

by 2ndchancequeen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 02:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8310886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2ndchancequeen/pseuds/2ndchancequeen
Summary: **SPOILER ALERT**  If you have not seen the 10/16 episode, stop reading NOW!Regina realizes there's one way to rid the town of the Evil Queen and maybe, just maybe, live to tell.  But when she carries out her plan, an unexpected event causes her to re-think her decision.





	

Regina waited for Emma to promise to do whatever was necessary to keep their families safe.  Jekyll and Hyde were dead and the only known way to get rid of the Evil Queen now was for Regina to die.  Regina stared intently into Emma's eyes until Emma nodded confirmation that she would, if necessary, kill her.

The blonde looked away from her friend, but nodded.  Regina sighed a breath of relief.  "Thank you.  Now all we need to do is come up with a plan before the Evil Queen realizes what has happened to Hyde and takes steps to protect herself.  Which means we have to work very quickly," Regina said pensively.  

The sound of footsteps drew her eyes over her shoulder.  Charming had joined.

Regina nodded in satisfaction.  "Good -- we'll need you, too," she said.  Charming, a puzzled look on his face, started to speak, but Regina had already thrown her hands into the air and enveloped the three in purple smoke.  They materialized in Snow and Charming's apartment.

"Why do you -- " Charming stopped mid-sentence and started again after seeing his surroundings.  "Why are we here?" 

"I have a plan, I think, to rid of us of the Evil Queen, but we have to act immediately, before she realizes what happened to Hyde.  I put a protection spell on your apartment after she appeared.  She can't hear or see us in here," Regina explained.

Charming's eyebrows rose.  "Thanks for the protection!  What's your plan?"

"We're going to kill me, and then -- " Emma and Charming's protests cut Regina off.

"Are you crazy?"

"I promised to kill you ONLY if necessary -- I think we should try other things first!"

Regina held up her hands to stop the onslaught.

"Hold on.  I don't intend to stay dead," she hurried on before they could interrupt again. "And I don't intend that you should go to the Underworld to rescue me."

"Then what's your plan?  Magic can't bring you back," Emma asked.

"No, but Dr. Whale and his equipment can," Regina answered.

"Regina," Charming said hesitantly. "I don't think that's a good idea.  It's true he can bring people back from the dead, but remember that Daniel came back... wrong."

Regina rolled her eyes.  "That's not what I mean either.  Although the plan does include electricity," she said wryly.

A light dawned in Emma's eyes.  "Oooh, you want Dr. Whale to give you an injection or something to kill you and then revive you with a defibrillator."

Regina smiled, "Exactly!  We'll do it here so that the Queen won't know what's going on.  I need you two to poof out and get Dr. Whale, and any drugs he'll need to kill me and whatever he needs to revive me as well.  I'll stay here and put a big pot of coffee on.  I expect we'll have to sober him up.  I certainly don't want him doing this high!"

Emma grinned.  "Mom will be home soon.  Fill her in.  I'll call Hook and Henry and ask them to stay at my place this evening."  She paused.  "That is, I assume you don't want Henry here or to even know the plan."

Regina shook her head.  "Definitely not."

Emma grabbed her father's arm.  "Let's go, Dad!  We've got a mad doctor to wrangle!"  They disappeared in a swirl.

_______________

It had been surprisingly easy to get Whale to agree to killing Regina and only a moderate amount of cajoling to secure his commitment to revive her after five minutes -- the longest he felt they could safely wait.

Regina lay on the Charming's bed waiting for Whale to administer the drugs that would kill her.  She was connected to a variety of monitors the hospital had unwittingly provided.  Snow sat on the bed holding Regina's hand.

"Regina, what if this makes the Evil Queen absorb back into you?" Snow asked.

"Then at least I'll know where she is.  And, it will probably help my relationship with Zelena.  She hasn't been too thrilled that I would reject the evil part of me.  It makes her feel like I don't want her either," Regina admitted.

"Only you could make evil sound like a bright side, Regina," Whale interjected has he suddenly jabbed the needle with the deadly cocktail into her arm.

"Hey!  Why didn't you give me a little warning before you did that?  I wasn't ready yet!" Regina objected.

Whale shrugged.  "I decided to spare myself the melodrama of you doing 'just-in-case' final farewells.  If I had to listen to that I probably would have injected myself instead of you and that would have ruined the whole plan."

Regina tried to summon a vitriolic response, but her head felt suddenly very fuzzy and it seemed as if the world was slowing down around her.  She was vaguely aware of the beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor although that seemed to be slowing as well.  She made a decision not to fight the feeling and waited for the famous 'bright light' told of in stories that would signal that she had died.

No bright light appeared, but she became conscious of arms around her.  Strong, masculine arms.  That softie Charming, she thought to herself.  Not even dead yet and he's already hugging me.  She forced her eyes to open so that she could tell him off, but it wasn't Charming's face that looked down into her own.

"Robin!"  She breathed.  He smiled at her.

"Hello, my love."

"Am I dreaming?"

"No, milady."

"How can I know that for sure?" she asked.  Surely a dream would answer just as he did.

"Perhaps this will convince you."  He placed his lips against hers.  His beard tickling and scratching her skin.  It did not feel like a dream.  It felt REAL.

She reluctantly pulled her lips away.  "How can this be?  How did you find your way to me?" She asked.

He smiled again.  "I did not find a way to you -- you found your way to me."

Regina's eyes widened.  "I'm dead."

"I am afraid so, my love."

"But you're here.  I thought your soul was gone," she said in a quavering voice.

"Hades lied.  Is that so surprising?"  

She shook her head.  "No, but it is surprising that I would die and find myself in the same place as you.  I would have thought you'd be in heaven and I'd be in, well, not heaven."

Robin smooth a lock of hair away from her forehead.  "I am in heaven, as are you."

"But how can that be?  I've led such a horrible, murderous life.  Unless, is it because I've been separated from the Queen?  Am I here and she's in hell?" Regina was sincerely puzzled.

"The Queen is no longer a separate person.  You are whole again, as  you were meant to be.  God judges people for who they are, not who they were.  You deserve to be here, Regina, the whole you."  He let that thought soak in to his beloved's shocked brain.

"You do deserve to be here," he repeated, "but not now.  Not yet.  You must go back to living."

Regina shook her head.  "No.  I want to stay here with you.  I'm tired of fighting.  Even if this plan works and I live and the Queen is gone, there will always be another battle to fight.  I want to rest.  Here, in your arms, forever."  The last words came out as a whisper.

Robin shook his head.  "No, my love.  The children need you.  Henry needs you.  You are his rock.  I need you to be in my little daughter's life, to make sure that she grows up happy, healthy, and good, not wicked.  And, I need you to do something else for me."  He looked into Regina's eyes imploringly.

"Anything," she answered.

"Find Roland.  Bring him back from the Enchanted Forest.  I know Little John was only doing what he thought was right, but my son misses us both terribly.  I watch him cry himself to sleep every night, calling my name, and yours.  Bring him home and love him as your own.  He will be a good son to you and a wonderful brother for my daughter.  Please do this, Regina.  Please. Please."

Regina's chest was tight and painful with emotion.  Each cry of 'please' seemed to throb with pain through her body.  Roland, her little knight, needed her.  She couldn't stay with Robin.  She had to do as he asked.  She closed her eyes to steady herself and drew a deep breath to answer his plea.  Another burst of pain pushed the words from her lips.

"Yes, I will, Robin, I promise!"  She opened her eyes to see not Robin's face but Whale hovering over her with defibrillator paddles.

He quirked an eyebrow at her.  "Been off visiting your latest dead boyfriend, have you?"

Emma jerked the paddles out of Whale's hands.  "Just make sure she's okay and maybe I won't use these paddles on you."

"It worked.  Sort of.  The Evil Queen is back inside me," Regina managed to croak out.

Charming answered from the foot of her bed.  "How do you know?"

"I can feel her.  I can control her, but I can definitely tell she's part of me again.  But that's all right.  I'd much rather live with her in here, than out there,"  Regina sighed and closed her eyes.  "Now I need to rest for a little while but then I have to go to The Enchanted Forest and keep a promise I made to Robin."  She opened her eyes again and smiled.  "Who's with me?"


End file.
